The Corset Diet: Shrinking women’s waists by up to six inches

The Corset Diet: 17th century weight loss trend here for a comeback, shrinking women’s waists by up to six inches.

Weight loss trends come ten a penny these days, there’s always some new, usually celebrity endorsed, fad around the corner. Now I’ve discovered the corset diet. Women are taking weight loss tips from the Tudor age and putting on corsets for up to 12 hours a day in order to reduce their waistlines.

Corsets are all the rage with the ladies on the internationally acclaimed period drama Downtown Abbey and celebrity actress Jessica Alba insists it’s a great way to lose baby weight. With endorsements like these this diet trend last another century.

The method is splitting doctors opinion, as some are actually recommending the corset diet to their patients who want to lose weight, while others are sceptical calling the extreme diet merely a trend that could in fact cause health problems later on.

How does the diet work?

I’m not really sure you can even call the corset diet a diet seeing as it has nothing to do with your dietary habits. You’re not exercising differently or eating any more healthily. But Beverly Hills based plastic surgeon, Dr Alexander Sinclair, recommends the diet saying that a tight corset compressing the bottom ribs can apparently make the wearer eat less. He also suggests the extra layer of clothing and tight compression will make you sweat more, aiding weight loss further. Shockingly this method has helped some of Dr. Sinclair’s patients have reduced their waist lines by up to 6 inches.

Concerns about the diet

I worry with diets like this that people will starve themselves or do permanent damage to their bodies. My concerns are not alone, Dr. Jennifer Ashton, one of the corset diet’s naysayers, says “I think this is the latest in a gimmicky, trendy phase.” Research by New York-based medical weight loss doctor, Sue Decotiis, suggested that: “Wearing such a tight garment could compress organs and cause painful muscle spasms” This was true of women of the past who actually ended up shifting the placement of their internal organs by wearing corsets that were too tight and for too long.

Dr. Decotis also mentions ‘It could also make it difficult to take a deep breath- and what if one had to sneeze or cough?’ You might break a rib! According to Dr Decotiis, a corset might restrict your ability to indulge in a large meal, but it won’t effectively get rid of the fat cells that create a thicker waistline.

Dr. Sinclair, who endorses the diet, has concerns himself “Some of the patients are so happy with it, for them it’s a race. They become obsessive about it so they’re wearing their corset 14-15 hours a day, which I think is too much.’

Effective and healthy weight loss

If like me, you won’t be running to purchase a new corset and still want to lose weight, I recommend a healthy, well balanced diet with at least half an hours exercise a day. Supplements like meal replacement shakes and fat burners for fast weight loss work well but only in balance with a good diet and exercise plan.